When I moved from Floriduh to Georgia, Sam's Club had blue tote boxes with a clam shell lid. Heavy gauge strong plastic, not the soft plastic or Rubbermaid stuff. 1-foot wide at the bottom, one foot tall, 2 feet long. They're tapered top-to-bottom, so the opening is a couple inches wider, and they'll nest when empty.
They were $4 each, and I bought $120 worth. I wish I'd have bought more!
They were perfect for moving. We loaded up car parts, tools, "stuff" in them and didn't have to worry about cardboard boxes breaking, they were easy to grab and carry, and they stacked in the truck perfectly. If they were much bigger, they'd have been too heavy to stack and carry around.
I can fit an amazing amount of stuff in them, and set up my shelves to fit them perfectly without leaving too much dead space. I still have a lot of car parts in them, and the ones that emptied out after the move have been amazingly handy: I have three I keep all my swap meet set-up gear in (PA system cables, front gate supplies, etc. etc.), Christmas stuff, camping gear, the list goes on.
-Brad
) and the stores have a good selection of storage containers.